


Ice Cream

by Trekkele



Series: A Townie, A Linguist, And Several Kinds Of Tea. [4]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Jim and Nyota are Friends, Jims good with kids, ice cream is yummy, not much snark either there is a CHILD watch your mouths, the Kirks are StarFleet royalty, there isn't much interaction in this one sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 17:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15273120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trekkele/pseuds/Trekkele
Summary: Cadets seem oddly lost when confronted with a lost kid. Well, not all of them.





	Ice Cream

**Author's Note:**

> Nyota ad Jim are still awesome, I checked.

There was a cluster of cadets in the square as Uhura exited the computer science building. This wasn’t unusual, not by a long shot, but instead of the shouts and teasing that would normally come from a group of what was essentially a bunch of jumped-up college students, they all seemed faintly uneasy, exchanging quick glances and whispers.

 

She had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to meet Gaila in the library, might as well make the most of it. Just as she managed to gently push her way into the loose circle, she noticed the sniffling little girl stuck at the center.

 

She’d be more annoyed if it wasn’t obvious that the kid was panicking. Apparently the best and brightest of StarFleet couldn't handle a crying kid. She rolled her eyes at the nearest Cadet, who looked torn between stepping forward and running to the nearest building for cover. How were these idiots supposed to operate in a crisis, _goddess above_.

 

Nyota took a step forward, noticing out of the corner of her eye another Cadet doing the same, crouching before the little girl and removing his hat so that they were eye to eye.

 

“Hello there Ma’am. Are you looking for a particular building?” She was not surprised that Jim Kirk was taking charge of the situation. Frankly, he usually stepped up before things, whether it was a training sim or a party, got out of hand. But she hadn't expected him to be good with kids. She didn't expect _any_ cadet to be good with kids, since mostly they were overgrown teenagers themselves.

 

But the little kid wiped her eyes again and mumbled “I’m not a Ma’am,” sniffling into her palms again.

 

Kirk rocked back on his heels, letting his blue eyes go wide. The result was an almost comical expression of surprise,

“You mean you _aren’t_ an officer of StarFleet?” he rounded out the display with a hand pressed against his heart, looking like he might faint away in surprise. She could admit that he was non-threatening and friendly, even if he was clearly laying it on thick.

The kid giggled at his antics, shaking her head no even as tears trickled out of the corners of her eyes.

 

“Well you _must_ be someone important. Are you a doctor? A scientist?,” the girl kept giggling at each ridiculous suggestion, and he finally leaned forward as if he was going to tell her a secret. _“Are you the lost princess of Mars?”_

The girl clapped her hands over her mouth, laughing so hard her eyes squeezed shut and the last of her tears ran down her cheeks. She was, objectively, adorable.

 

“No,” she almost shouted, “I’m Elise!”

 

Jim grinned at her and held out his hand. “Well Elise, I’m Jim. It's nice to meet you”

 

Elise shook his hand very seriously, “it’s a pleasure to meet you Cadet Jim.”

Jim squinted at her and tilted his head. “ _Saaaay_ Elise, are you _sure_ you’re not an officer?”

 

Elise started playing with one of her pigtails. “No, my grandpas an’nad - n’Admiral. His office was around the corner but I got lost and couldn’t find it again cuz I wanted a snack from the repl’cator but he only has coffee in his office one.”

 

Jim nodded along, very serious. “I see. You had a snack emergency. What’s your grandpas name, maybe I know where his office is.”

 

Around her, the cadets started drifting away. There wasn’t a lot of free time at the academy, no doubt they were glad someone else was dealing with the problem and would rush off to their next classes. To their credit, a few took the time to glance back over their shoulders, but most seemed happy to let Kirk deal with this on his own and took off as fast as humanly (and sometimes otherwise) possible.

 

“Grandpa Archer has a big office in a building with lotsa windows, near the water.” She hadn’t known Admiral Archer had a granddaughter, but really, it made sense. Although she suspected a kid this young would be a great-grandaughter, at the very least.

 

Kirk, for his part, didn’t react to the name. Despite Archer being everyone's hero, not to mention the best person to be impress by returning a wayward grandchild to. He looked around, seeming oddly nervous for someone who would be getting thanked by _the_ Admiral Archer in a few minutes.

He relaxed slightly when he noticed that the only person left hanging around was Uhura, but he still gave her a heavy glance, eyelids low over his calculating blue stare. She felt like he was measuring her for something, and the slight nod as he turned away was the only indication that she had, apparently, passed.

 

“I bet you’re grandfather is getting worried. Do you want to call him?”

 

Call him? She didn’t think Archer gave his comm to Cadets. Actually she knew he didn't give his comm frequency to cadets. Plenty of her classmates had tried. She wasn't sure what they thought they would _do_ with it, but they had tried. They usually got instructions to walk his dog and a pat on the head for their troubles.

Incidentally, Uhura liked Admiral Archer.

 

Kirk already had his comm open and dialing.

 

“Jim,” Admiral Archer sounded frantic, “Jim, now is not the time, I need you to -”

 

“Hey Uncle Archie! Look who I found!”

 

Wait - Uncle Archie???

 

It was impossible to forget that Jim was a legacy, that the Kirks had been in StarFleet almost as long as it had existed.

But then again, Kirk was never the one who reminded anyone. No, now that she thought about it, it was always the professors and other cadets and visiting lecturers who made sure to point that out. Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, given that Jim himself wasn't interested in spreading his connections around, even when he clearly had them. But still, _Uncle Archie_?

 

Elise was smiling and waving at the screen. “Hi Grandpa! Cadet Jim found me cuz I got a little bit losted on the way back to your office but he said he understood that it was snack emergency and that you would also, it really was, I was hungry, but I’m sorry I got lost and made you worry and he says I should apologize and then you'll take me for ice cream…”

 

Uhura hid a smile at the way Elise was rambling at her clearly very, _very_ relieved Grandfather, and at the way she gave killer puppy eyes in the hopes for a treat, despite having wandered off.

 

“Maybe - “ Jim interrupted gently, “I said _maybe_ he’ll have time to take you for ice cream, _when_ his meetings are over”

 

Elise sighed in the overly dramatic way only little kids can, all wide eyes and bottom lip hanging out. “Oh-kaaay. But Grandpa, all your meetings are so boring.” She brightened suddenly, and Uhura knew, the same way she knew this kid had Admiral Archer wrapped around her pinky finger, that someday Elise would make a fantastic negotiator. “Hey Cadet Jim, you can take me! Right Grandpa? Cadet Jim can get me ice cream!”

 

And, yup, wrapped around one pudgey pink finger, Admiral Archer melted. “Well, Elise, I’m not sure Jim has time right now, you know that being in StarFleet is pretty busy..”

 

Jim, for his part, just laughed. “It’s ok, I have a free class now. I’m sure I can drop off these padds with Cadet Vro and take Elise for some ice cream”

 

Both the Admiral and Elise perked up, giving Kirk the same happy wide eyed expression.

“Thanks Jim, I’ll comm you when this is done, shouldn’t be more than an hour.”

 

Which was how Uhura found herself teaching Orion nouns to an excitable five (and a Half!) year old while Jim and Gaila giggled over their pronunciations and shared a giant banana split. But that’s another story.

**Author's Note:**

> This story basically wrote itself, I wondered what would happen if someones kid got lost on "Bring your kid to StarFleet day" and poof! A Wild Jim Appeared! He used Ice Cream! It's Super Effective!  
> Ok I'll shut up.
> 
> Fun Fact: This idea behind this series (food) originally "started" with a post-Narada style long fic which kicked my ass and isn't being written because it's mean. But maybe I'll dig up that wip for funsies and to torture myself.
> 
> Feed the author! She accepts ice cream fyi.


End file.
